Sebring Qualifying 2014

Posted on: March 14th, 2014byMartin Plowman

Martin Plowman and BAR1 Motorsports qualified seventh in the Prototype Challenge (PC) category of the 62nd Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida. Plowman was the qualifier in the #88 car and will be joined by his teammates Doug Bielefeld, Tomy Drissi, and Chapman Ducote in Saturday’s race.

Plowman’s journey to the 2014 12 Hours of Sebring started only one week ago when team owner Brian Alder asked Plowman to head the #88 as the car’s sole gold/platinum-rated driver for the weekend. This will be his first race in a PC car, though he has spent the last two seasons in sportscars with the World Endurance Championship and the American Le Mans Series.

Due to multiple red flags throughout the entire weekend’s three practice sessions, Plowman had very little track time and qualifying was the first time he was truly able to evaluate the car. “I was a little bit in the deep end having never driven this car,” Plowman said, “and track time was a big issue for me in particular, but also overall at this track because there were so many red flags. I think I only had a handful of laps before jumping in the car and qualifying.”

But a handful of laps was enough to improve the car by close to two seconds in the qualifying session from the car’s fastest lap during practice sessions. Plowman hit the peak of the tires early, on his third flying lap, which propelled him to the top of the grid. The times simply http://www.ejsmith.com/ didn’t go up from there, landing the #88 P7 in class for tomorrow’s race.

“By lap three, I cialis online cheap put in a very good lap and went straight to P1, and then I thought, ‘Great! Now we settle down and improve on that, get into the rhythm and get the peak of the tire,‘“ Plowman said. “By lap four, the rear tires had already gone off and I was having massive oversteer, dropping us down in the order.”

Plowman is looking forward to his second 12 Hours of Sebring and competing against a world-class level of drivers. “It’s a very competitive class and you look at the guys who are directly around me and they’re a high-caliber class of driver. I know that on any given day, anyone can win,” Plowman said.

He’s feeling confident in his own abilities after two immensely successful seasons in sportscars. “I know what I can do and what I can bring to the team. My sole goal is to focus on my time in the car and use my skills to help the team get a win. “